Colorado lawmakers advanced a bill 2 weeks ago that would
give voters more time to vote and drop off their ballots amid President
Donald Trump’s threats to buck the Constitution by trying to
nationalize elections.
Democrats in the state House passed House Bill 1113 in a
41-22 vote, sending the measure to the Senate over Republican opposition.
Lawmakers typically undertake election reforms just about
every year, largely to adopt technical changes sought by county clerks and the
Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. This year’s version includes similar
tweaks.
But HB-1113 would also extend several key voting deadlines.
The bill would require that drop boxes accept ballots for 22 days before an
election, rather than the current law’s 15-day window. Ballots could be mailed
to voters up to 29 days ahead of Election Day, up from 22 days now.
At a minimum, clerks would have to mail ballots out at least
25 days ahead of time, up from 18 days in the current law.
“Colorado’s elections are the gold standard in part because we
continuously update our laws to guard against new threats to our democracy,”
Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat, said in a statement. She’s sponsoring the
bill with Rep. Jenny Willford. “Coloradans deserve to cast their ballot without
barriers, and this bill safeguards against federal interference in our
elections and makes it easier to vote.”
The changes come ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and
follow Trump’s escalating calls for the federal government and Republicans
to “take
over” and “nationalize” elections. Trump allies — including Peter
Ticktin, the lawyer for incarcerated former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters —
have circulated a draft executive order that would attempt to give Trump
unprecedented control over elections, according
to the Washington Post.
The U.S. Constitution grants
control over elections to state legislatures, with oversight authority
granted to Congress.
Colorado officials have criticized Trump’s rhetoric in the
past and defended Colorado as a model for election administration nationwide.
In a statement about the Washington Post’s report last week, Secretary of State
Jena Griswold criticized the president as “one of the greatest threats to
American elections.”
In addition to expanding various voting timelines, HB-1113
would also allow people who live in transitional housing — like halfway houses
— to vote.
As Colorado’s ballots grow longer and longer, the legislation
would also allow voters to take written materials into polling places for their
own reference. Voting centers that run out of supplies would be required to
stay open past the 7 p.m. poll closing time. Colleges would be required to
provide more information about voting to their students in the days before
Election Day.
HB-1113 would repeal a provision of state law that allows a
registered voter to challenge the eligibility of other voters. During a
committee hearing last month, Sirota told fellow lawmakers that people who’d
bought into misinformation about ineligible voters were sending lengthy lists
of challenges to county clerks.
She said she was open to reforms, rather than a full repeal of
that provision, but added that lawmakers were moving forward with stripping it
for the time being.
House Republicans unanimously opposed the bill, citing various
reasons. Rep. Stephanie Luck attempted to amend the bill to make it easier for
political parties to close their primaries to unaffiliated voters, long a goal
of some in the Colorado GOP. Rep. Ken DeGraaf, who last
year questioned the results of the 2024 election that sent him and the
rest of the House to the Capitol, defended Peters and sought to add more
election security controls to the bill.
Other Republicans said some of the bill’s provisions would add
burdensome new costs for small counties.
More Reepo bunkum and excuses to compromise elections, what else would you expect?
And:
And:
Brane Space: Trump Now Poses Greatest Security Threat To Election And Cannot Be Allowed To Carry Out A Coup
No comments:
Post a Comment